A few tool questions...

[toast boy]

I'm thinking of Christmas present ideas for a few people and am looking for a bit of tool advice - firstly I'd like some ideas for a decent ratchet screwdriver for £20-£30. There's this Teng one for about £13 are there any others worth considering?

Secondly, I'm looking for some decent mole grips, again for the £20-£30 mark. I've got no idea what brands do good mole grips so any recommendations would be helpful.

Any other ideas for well made tools at this kind of price would also be appreciated. Apart from the above, these would be for my dad, between us we've got most of the tools you'd expect to find in a workshop but anything slightly out of the ordinary would be worth considering.

Cheers.

[natureboy8891]

toast boy said:

I've got no idea what brands do good mole grips

Vice grips are the best mole grips to buy. What are you using the tools for just servicing and general stuff?

[kambites]

I thought "Mole Grips" was the brand name, and "Vice Grips" was the generic term?

[RDM]

Not going to the garage in this weather but think ViseGrip is the manufacturers
name and the ONLY ones to have.

[60]

I'v got this ratchet screwdriver for work seams pretty good to me and gets used every day http://www.stanleytools.com/default.asp?CATEGORY=H...

[toast boy]

Cheers for the replies. They'll be getting reasonably heavy use as we restore classic cars but probably not as intense use as a normal workshop. To date I've never broken a tool yet (apart from emergency buys from the pound shop!) so I'm not looking for Snap On quality but at the same time don't want to buy rubbish. Just seen a Facom screwdriver, anyone know whether they're better/worse than Teng?

[davethebunny]

toast boy said:

Cheers for the replies. They'll be getting reasonably heavy use as we restore classic cars but probably not as intense use as a normal workshop. To date I've never broken a tool yet (apart from emergency buys from the pound shop!) so I'm not looking for Snap On quality but at the same time don't want to buy rubbish. Just seen a Facom screwdriver, anyone know whether they're better/worse than Teng?

Facom is pretty good IME.

FWIW i've got snap on ratchet and normal screwdrivers. Can't be beat. For ratchets i've got these:

[motoGF]

We can offer these...



http://www.motogf.co.uk/Products/T-handle_bit_hold...



http://www.motogf.co.uk/Products/Bit_holder_with_r...

I really like the first one because the T-handle makes it really easy to get good drive.

Gary.

[entwisi]

There was a review in Practical Classics (IIRC) a short while ago on rachet screwdrivers, I'll see if I still have the magazine tonight and post up the winner. It wasn't too expensive

I have a rachetless ( Clutch???) one which I've owned for years, VERY smooth with none of teh click-click ness. It was a generic brand from a guy I knew who imported and sold tools round farmers etc. I did a bit of part time work selling for him on my days off and it was part of my demo kit.(Turned out he was well dodgy and was eventually banned from ruinning a company for 10 years, he never collected the demo kit so its continued to be used to this day. TBH its all really good stuff as I've not actuially managed to break any of it in over 15 years of ham-fisted use).

[zcacogp]

I understand that Facom tools are excellent.

Older Teng stuff always used to be very good indeed. I have a Teng socket set from about 15 years ago, and it is superb (only used for DIY tho' - not pro-level use.) I think that Teng stuff nowadays isn't quite as good, but still nothing to be sneezed at.


Oli.

[Tiganut]

Vice Grips are the best self gripping wrench.Facom make excellent tools,especially ratchets.Snap-on ratchets are pretty dire.